Chapter Thirty
Hudson
What a difference three months made.
Three months ago, Cosima had shown up filthy and half-dead on their doorstep, a maltreated waif who was scared of her shadow, a trembling ball of nerves who expected cruelty and was surprised by kindness.
Now? Now that same little girl was wearing a frilly sunshine-yellow party dress, sitting at a big table surrounded by people she called her friends, and was getting prepared to blow out the candles on a huge birthday cake.
Hudson had no illusions that she was “cured” from the years of abuse she’d suffered. She still regularly had nightmares, she hated to be left alone and wouldn’t take a step outside without either him or Ian holding her hand. She still cried pitiably whenever she was punished which wasn’t often. She was painfully shy when she met new people, and her body was still—and always would be—littered with scars. Nora the social worker came to see her every week and while the frequency of the visits would go down, she’d probably be a fixture around here for years if not in perpetuity.
But Cosy’s cheeks weren’t sunken and sallow anymore, she didn’t cower like a dog that expected to be kicked, she smiled and laughed every goddamn day, and she was so curious and sweet and open with him and Ian that it killed him. How had he gotten so lucky?
When they’d asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, he’d expected her to say nothing. Of course, he wouldn’t have accepted that for an answer—he would’ve coaxed her into telling him she wanted cupcakes and a trip to the toy store to pick out a new stuffie, or maybe that she was ready to try going to the zoo or the aquarium, or hell, she loved going to Jethro and Sable’s garden center to look at all the flowers. Something that would make her happy.
They would’ve done anything she asked for, and when she asked for a big party, Ian had literally yelled, “Fuck yeah, Coco!”
Honestly, he’d been close to doing that himself.
And now here they were at the big table in the loft with twenty of their friends clapping after his gorgeous little girl had blown out all her candles in one go. He and Ian bent down and kissed her cheeks, making the birthday girl giggle, and then he cut and plated the cake while Cosy and Ian passed out pieces.
While Plum didn’t usually make cakes and had protested that surely there were bakeries in town that could make prettier, more ornate, and tastier cakes, she hadn’t been able to say no to a wide-eyed Cosy. He knew how she felt. Not that they said no to her often.
He’d say she was spoiled except they were just trying to make up for lost time, and she never took anything for granted. And now people were digging into the lemon cake with a ton of sugary white icing with bright flowers piped all over the top.
They were going to have a bunch of littles with copious sugar highs running around in a bit—good thing Ian had set up games and crafts downstairs to keep them busy and tire them out. It was possible they’d gone overboard, but was that really a thing you could do when you were trying to make up for eight years of lost birthdays? He didn’t think so. Besides, it had been a while since they’d had a littles’ party since they’d been so busy with Cosima, so it was kind of a treat for some of their members too.
The buzzer to the loft sounded and Hudson handed over cake-cutting duty to Ryker. Way safer than giving Ian a giant knife and asking him to cut rationally sized pieces of cake. Wasn’t going to happen.
He buzzed the guest in, and smiled when Eric came up the stairs. The good doctor had given them a heads up he had a last minute patient so he’d be late, but he was here now and Cosy would be happy to see him. She always was when he came to visit or when she saw him at the club.
Eric had a broad smile and a back-pounding hug for him.
“Hey man, how’s the birthday girl?”
“She’s great. You just missed her blowing out her candles. Come on in, we’ll get you a piece of cake.”
Eric held up a gift bag with a bunny on the front and puffs of rainbow tissue paper sticking out the top. “Where should I put this? And yeah, it’s from Easter but I didn’t think Cosima would mind.”
“She’ll love it. Won’t even matter what’s inside. She keeps looking over at the table—” He gestured to the card table that was overflowing with gifts, and Eric tucked the gift he’d brought on the floor behind some others that were piling up. “—and I think her eyes get bigger every time. Like she can’t believe these are all for her. It’s the cutest damn thing.”
“I bet. She’s a good girl, and I’m glad everything is working out with you all. I wanted to say…” A line formed between Eric’s dark brows and then he set a hand on Hudson’s biceps. “I hope you know there was never any doubt in my mind that you and Ian and Ryker are good men. I’d trust you with my life, and you know I think the world of Hive. Best club in the state by far, probably in the whole Northeast. That had nothing to do with my reluctance for Cosima to come live with you. It had everything to do with her needing more than I could imagine anyone providing. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. She looks happy, healthy. She’s always going to struggle because of everything she’s been through, but from what I can see and from what Nora has told me, this is a better outcome for her than we had any right to hope for.”
Hudson wasn’t afraid of feelings. He dealt with other people’s feelings all day every day because it was his job. It was a little unusual for him to get choked up, but one of his best friends and hell, one of the best men on the planet, thinking he was worthy of his precious little teapot? Best feeling.
“Thanks, Eric. That means a lot to me. A lot to us. And, you know, we’re still working on Ryker but he’s coming around.”
“I’ll bet.”
Eric smirked but the smug expression was quickly knocked off his face by a little girl in a frilly yellow party dress tackle-hugging him at speed.
“Hi, Doctor Eric. Thank you for coming to my party.”
Eric hugged the little bundle back and then held her at arms’ length so he could look her over. “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Your daddies throw a hell of a party and your papa’s been bragging all over town about the pretty dress you picked out to wear. I love it, yellow’s a good color on you.”
Cosima blushed as she looked up at him, bashful smile on her face and toe digging into the floor. “Thank you. Did you see my shoes? Daddy says I can only wear them inside so they don’t get dirty and ruined but we can put different ribbons in so they’ll match anything.”
Cosima took a step back to show off the white patent leather Mary Janes with the pink and yellow bows and Eric made a big deal because he was a good guy and he genuinely loved littles. Hudson’s heart was so full it could burst, especially when he cleared his throat and Cosy looked over at him and he raised his eyebrows.Manners, babygirl.